First Comes Friendship
by Shade Penn
Summary: G1. Every relationship has to start somewhere. Pre-slash. Skyfire/Sideswipe.


The first time Skyfire could ever properly remember meeting the twins was when he'd been working on an experiment when without warning Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had come charging into the lab, laughing about a prank they'd pulled and dived behind the table, and Skyfire was baffled by the whole thing.

He knew their reputation for pranks; he just hadn't known that they knew where the lab was. With how danger prone he kept hearing they were, perhaps it wasn't as far-fetched as it sounded, especially if Wheeljack was involved in something.

Not a moment later, Prowl came storming into the lab, doorwings held high and splattered with paint, as was a good portion of the rest of his chassis. "Have you seen Sunstreaker and Sideswipe?"

An instinctual response had taken over for a second as Skyfire stared at the mech and got out a "What hap-" before he cut himself off. Of _course_ he knew what happened, so he asked a more clarifying question. "Did anyone else get, er, painted?"

Prowl's visor flashed to show how _un_amused he was at the shuttle's attempt at humour. "Everyone in the command center got hit." He explained brusquely. "Now," his wings flared higher, "_have you seen them?"_

If asked, Skyfire couldn't answer as to why he said what he had. Later on, he thought it could have been because they had looked so happy, and he was so desperate for some kind of real emotions rather than the reserved smiles he got, even if it wasn't directed at him. "No, I haven't seen them." He said evenly and gestured to the beakers on the table. "I've been busy working with these."

Prowl had stared at him for a long moment, and when Skyfire had begun to think the mech wasn't going to believe him, he nodded curtly. "Very well, carry on." He said and walked away, the door sliding shut with his departure.

Skyfire looked back down at the boiling substance in one of the vials, and it confused him as to why neither red nor yellow twin had left yet. "I doubt he's waiting outside the door."

Sideswipe laughed as he stood, his twin remaining silent as he looked over his chassis for any scratches. "You'd be surprised." He said and gave a friendly punch to the shuttle's arm as he passed by him. "Thanks for the stall; maybe you're not as stuffy as everyone thinks after all."

Furrowing his optics ridges only slightly, Skyfire was unsure of whether to feel flattered or insulted. Not wanting himself to be the target of their next prank, he'd only said, "Thank you…?" which had earned him another friendly punch and a grin from Sideswipe as both he and Sunstreaker left the lab.

Bewildered and slightly dazed, Skyfire had only shaken his helm and went back to work, putting the incident to back of his mind.

* * *

Quite honestly, Skyfire had all but forgotten about the incident in the lab as the week flew by, there was much more to think about after all. So because of his memory lapse, he was surprised to find Sideswipe in the lab and looking over another set of beakers, and Skyfire grew startled when the mech lifted a vial of corrosive liquid out of its holder.

"No, please don't touch that." He said as patiently as he could as he pulled the vial carefully out of Sideswipe's grasp.

The mech seemed not to notice though as he almost immediately walked over to a large item off to the side with a tarp covering it. "Hey, what's this?"

"It's one of Wheeljack's inventions," Skyfire said, and to his dismay, Sideswipe only got closer to it with a mischievous glint in his optics, "please don't touch that either. In fact, let's just say you aren't allowed to touch anything in here."

At that, Sideswipe turned on his pede, smirking up at him with a playful look on his faceplate. "Are you sure about?"

Skyfire's serious expression didn't change. "Quite certain." He said, watching as the red mech scowled for a moment before it slid back into a vapid smile, something that the shuttle was wary of. "Why are you in here? Did you prank someone else and need a place to hide? I don't think I could lie for you again; I have principles."

Sideswipe smirked. "Yeah, which you bent for us." He said and meandered around the shuttle until he was on the other side of the table, leaning his elbow joints on the surface as he rested his chin on his servos. "So what are you doing anyway?"

"I am getting the samples ready for study for when Perceptor arrives." Skyfire explained.

"Figures, all you nerds seem to care about are your test tubes." Sideswipe sighed dramatically. "I guess I was wrong about you. I mean, who really cares about all this science stuff except stiffs who don't how to loosen up?"

Skyfire bristled as he reined in his annoyance and he locked optics with the other mech. "_I_ care about this 'science stuff'."

Sideswipe stared at him with an unreadable expression, and the smile which slide across his lip components began to worry Skyfire quite a bit as well. "I see." He said and slinked off through the door just as Perceptor walked in.

The microscope looked back at the red mech before casting an inquisitive stare Skyfire's way. "Why was he here? Did he take anything?"

Skyfire stilled, his optics scanning the vials and the other assorted items in the room. "I'm not sure, perhaps its best that we check." He said and Perceptor nodded.

Later, when everything was accounted for, Skyfire felt a sliver of relief, but also wondered just what Sideswipe had been doing in the lab to begin with. He _had_ never been given an answer.

* * *

Sipping his ration of afternoon energon, Skyfire noted how quiet and relaxed the rec room was. In fact, from the low chatter he heard around him, this was actually something to be very worried about. The twins hadn't pulled a prank for three days, and bots were getting restless as they waited for the figurative shoe to drop. Which Skyfire thought was actually a rather strange metaphor, but it seemed to fit the situation.

From his corner of the room, as it was only space with a table large enough for him to sit at, and painfully empty at that, the shuttle had a vantage point to how some of the 'Bots tensed when Sunstreaker got up from the couch beside his twin and left the room. There seemed to be an almost-figuratively held breath as Sideswipe rose too.

Where the air had been tinged with dread, now was transformed into confusion, especially for Skyfire as he glanced at the seat Sideswipe had taken beside him.

The red mech grinned at him cheekily. "Hey Stretch, how's the weather up there?"

If he could have, Skyfire would have rolled his optics. Some small petty part of him couldn't resist barbing back though with a, "The view is excellent; how's the ground down there?"

The grin only grew. "Just as good." He said, not seeming to notice or care about how the mechs in the room were starting to relax once again. "Listen, I gotta say, I was totally wrong about science."

Skyfire scrutinized that cheerful grin for something mocking, but to his surprise, there only seemed to be sincerity. "You were?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah, I was." Sideswipe said, a faint beeping ringing out and a devious glint appeared in his blue optics. "Turns out it can be a real blast."

When an explosion rang out in the rec room from the corner on the other side of the room, Skyfire reacted by pulling Sideswipe towards his chassis and curling over him to shield him from whatever debris was blown their way.

Skyfire noticed the first inkling of something wrong when the screams that followed the blast were not those of pain, but rather that of annoyance and frustration. Tentatively peering up at the room, he was shocked to find that the there was no smoke or blown apart furniture, but rather that the entire room and every mech in the room was covered in a fluorescent pink goo.

Well, the entire room except for the corner where Sideswipe and Skyfire were residing.

A trickle of suspicion made its way down Skyfire's spinal strut, not at all helped by the fact he could hear muffled laughter from where Sideswipe's faceplate was pressed into the crook of Skyfire's shoulder, and the laughter was loud enough for all to hear when he looked up to no doubt see his handy work.

Sideswipe grinned once more up at Skyfire. "Man, this turned out better than I thought; who knew science really _could_ be fun?"

Skyfire winced as he saw the glares that were sent Sideswipe's way, and, by implication, at Skyfire as well. While the red mech didn't appear to care about the hostile looks he was given, Skyfire looked down in shame as he realized this wasn't going to help him fit in with the Autobots any better.

The dread only grew when none other than a goo covered Prowl approached the table, doorwings hitched high. The effect would have been hilarious, had Skyfire not felt so fearful. "Sideswipe, Skyfire, you will both clean up this mess, and the wash racks used, then you are both to report to the brig. Be sure to get Sunstreaker to help you."

Sideswipe straightened up. "Actually, Sunny wasn't a part of this one." He said and Skyfire looked at him in surprise, but realized he'd lost his chance to plead innocence with the other mech's admission.

Prowl also seemed to be a bit surprised, but he hid it just as quickly. "Regardless, _get to it."_ He said and stalked out of the room, his pedes leaving a trail of pink glowing goop.

As mechs grumbled and cursed, Sideswipe smirked at Skyfire. "Impressed? I thought of you when I was planning it; see how none of it got near us?"

While it was strangely kind in its dementedness, the brewing fury Skyfire was starting to feel washed it away. "Yes, I see it." He said, biting out the words evenly as he would not give into his anger. "_Why_ though? Why would you do this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sideswipe questioned, but Skyfire only stared blankly at him. The red mech canted his helm in a way that was as close to an eye roll as their kind could get. "I wanted to show you that I could care about 'science stuff' too, especially once I found out how fun it could be. We should team up for real next time."

Skyfire's patience was razor thin now. "Yes, and the next time will involve brig time for you while I get kicked out of the Autobots."

Sideswipe snorted. "Please, you're taking this too hard. Why's it matter so much to you about what everyone thinks anyway?"

With that, Skyfire's last shred of patience snapped. He refused to give into his simmering anger though, as he held firmly onto the hope that Sideswipe was simply being ignorant rather than willfully cruel with his words. "I think perhaps its best if you were too take the far side of the room and leave me be."

Sideswipe frowned as the shuttle got out from behind the table. The red mech got up to follow him. "Wait, what-"

"Sideswipe." Skyfire said in warning, and it brought the other mech up short. "Please, desist in speaking with me further, for I do not wish to do or say something I will regret later."

Sideswipe stared at him for a long moment, and nodded curtly as he turned away, leaving Skyfire to head to the utility closet where the cleaning supplies was kept, while wanting nothing more than to demand just what Sideswipe had been thinking when he so readily got him involved in this.

* * *

Truth be told, Skyfire was feeling guilty. While it was quite ridiculous to be feeling like this over a mech who'd gotten him in trouble and had Autobots even more suspicious of him, he still saw his own mistake while he was giving Sideswipe the cold shoulder for the past four days.

If he was being honest with himself, he was standing in front of the door to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's room not because he didn't want to find any nasty prank surprises waiting for him in the lab, but because despite it all…he liked having someone to talk too.

He liked the way _they_ talked to each other, even if it was filled with barbs here and there.

While he loved science and could go on for hours, Skyfire was painfully aware that even his fellow scientists had hobbies outside of the lab while he retreated to his room hoping to go on an expedition just so he could have a few hours to himself where there weren't any judging optics or heavy gazes.

Venting deeply, Skyfire realized that Sideswipe had never looked at him like that, even if they had only known each other for a short time.

First things first though, he just needed to gather his resolve to knock on the-

When the door opened on its own accord, Skyfire found himself facing Sunstreaker, who looked only momentarily surprised by his presence before his faceplate contorted angrily. "It's _you_, what do you want?"

Skyfire braced himself; he was used to angry, he could handle this. "I have no wish to quarrel; I only want to speak with Sideswipe."

Sunstreaker didn't reply, but the way his form tensed had Skyfire wishing there was more space between him and the other mech. Before anything could transpire, a voice further in the room called out with a, "Leave him alone, Sunny. I got this."

"Don't call me that." Sunstreaker said as he threw a morose glare over his shoulder before gazing up at Skyfire with a more angered look in his optics. "And _you_, don't blow this or else."

Skyfire stepped back to let the yellow mech stalk off down the hall, trepidation forming in his spark. _'Perhaps this was a bad idea.'_ He thought as he saw Sideswipe come to take his twin's place in the doorway.

When the silence stretched on, Sideswipe crossed his arms and canted his helm to the side. "_Well?"_

"For the past several earth days I've been ignoring you, and it was rude of me to do so." Skyfire explained. "I…I apologize for my behavior."

Sideswipe let his arms fall to his sides, a look of surprised shock crossing over his faceplate. He stared wordlessly at the shuttle for one long moment before he let out a burst of incredulous laughter. "You-you're apologizing to _me?_" he asked, and his laughter grew even louder.

Skyfire tried not to let his embarrassment show at the display of flippancy. "Yes, I am."

Sideswipe's laughs died down once he saw the strained look on the shuttle's faceplate, and he snickered once more before calming himself. "It's just-_why?_ I get you in trouble and _you're_ apologizing to _me_?"

"It was still quite rude of me to ignore you without at least explaining myself." Skyfire replied and Sideswipe tilted his helm again. "I have a hard enough time fitting in, and you're prank has done me no favors with the other Autobots thinking any more of me."

The corner of Sideswipe's mouth twisted into a frown as he narrowed his optics slightly. Nonchalantly, he raised one servo and waved dismissively. "Yeah, sure, I won't get you into trouble anymore." He said, and as if doing a one-eighty, he beamed up at him. "Are you doing anything now though?"

Skyfire stared at him with astonishment. "Just like that, you can really just sweep the past few days away?"

Sideswipe chuckled. "The last few days are nothing given what kinds of fights I can get into with Sunny. Besides, we're friends, aren't we? Friends fight."

Skyfire mulled the idea over in his processor. Perhaps it was because of his ineptitude with most things social, or his disastrous reunion with Starscream, but the thought of having actually become Sideswipe's friend had seemed impossible. Especially given that it had happened without Skyfire even realizing it.

"I…I supposed we could be friends," he said carefully, "and friends respect each other's wishes," he added a bit pointedly, "so please respect mine. I'll help you with whatever you want to do now, so long as it's not for one of your pranks."

Sideswipe frowned a bit petulantly, giving away that a prank was _exactly_ what he wanted the shuttle's help for. "What else is there to do then?"

Skyfire shook his head in bemusement. "When you find out, come and tell me."

As the shuttle walked away, he mused that this 'friendship' they had was going to be a difficult thing to keep on both fronts. Though, with some effort on finding a common ground, maybe this wouldn't be such a far-fetched thing after all.


End file.
